'Horrible' dad turns cool dad

Greg Kinnear (above, who plays a divorcee who shares his anxieties and problems with his onscreen children in Stuck In Love).

A little over 15 years ago, Greg Kinnear looked set for movie stardom. He had successfully transitioned from TV chatshow host to bona fide Hollywood talent, securing an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor with only his fourth film, 1997's As Good As It Gets.

Nowadays, he is known for his work in smaller pictures. As he is 50 years old, blockbuster action roles have most likely passed him by.

But he has found his niche as one of Hollywood's most reliable character actors, whose credits include We Were Soldiers (2002), Bad News Bears (2005), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Baby Mama (2008) and Green Zone (2010).

"I've not been very genre-seeking in my movie choices," says Kinnear at a press meet in Toronto.

"That's probably stupid of me in career terms, but I always just responded to a script or I didn't. I've done some element of every type of genre to some degree, but I guess I'm not very forward-thinking. I'm very linear. If something comes in and it feels good, then I go for it.

"In terms of career observation, I'm not great at that either, though I guess I'm in my literary phase right now with my most recent movies."

Earlier this year he starred opposite Julianne Moore in The English Teacher. He is currently on screens in Singapore in the light family drama Stuck In Love.

The new movie was originally titled Writers, with a screenplay and direction by first-timer Josh Boone, and it is hung on a literary-minded family that is suffering in the wake of the parents' divorce. Kinnear and Jennifer Connolly feature as the divorcees, while rising stars Lily Collins and Nat Wolff play their children.

Kinnear says: "Josh Boone told me that this story between Jennifer Connolly's character and my own was born out of his own parents' divorce and how powerful that was. I was quite moved by it."

His character is a successful novelist, eager to encourage the creative writing skills that abound in his offspring. He is also a very open father, sharing many of his own problems and anxieties with his children. "It was interesting playing a 'cool' father," he says with a laugh, "because I'm a horrible father in real-life."